White House Watch: Reduced expectations for Asia trip
Call it spin or lowering expectations. But senior U.S. officials say they don't expect any big developments from President Bush's trip to Asia this week. For example, White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Japan yesterday: "This is not a trip where the president has to come with a deliverable or [an] initiative." Referring specifically to Bush's visit to China later this week, Hadley said, "I don't think you're going to see headline breakthroughs."
Still, U.S. officials say the weeklong trip will be worthwhile because the president will get to know his international counterparts better and make his case personally for his policies, ranging from waging war on terrorism to promoting free trade and fighting avian flu. There's always the chance that the Americans are downplaying expectations so that any news will be magnified if it comes as a surprise.
But it's also possible that Bush's international standing has been weakened so much by his low job-approval ratings at home and perceptions that America is bogged down in Iraq that he really can't work his will the way he used to.
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